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ICAMS:
Materials Informatics and Data Science
In order to fill a fixed-term position in full-time (39.83 hours/week = 100%) at the earliest possible date, we are looking for a
Doctoral Researcher (m/f/x)
The Interdisciplinary Centre for Advanced Materials Simulation (ICAMS) is a research centre at the Ruhr University Bochum, focusing on the development and application of multi-scale simulation tools for advanced materials. ICAMS is embedded into a network of national and international collaborations. Researchers and students benefit from this top international and interdisciplinary environment. The research group Materials Informatics and Data Science is looking for a researcher at the intersection of Materials and Natural Language Processing.
The tasks associated with the offered position include the development and benchmarking of methods for reproducible knowledge extraction from the scientific literature, organizing this knowledge using field-specific ontologies and their extensions, development and publication of benchmarks with provenance information beyond composition-property relationships.
Scope: full-time
Duration: fixed-term, 2 years
Start: at the earliest possible date
Apply by: 2026-07-31
Your tasks:
- Large-scale Large Language Model deployment on materials science literature, possibly also fine-tuning
- Task-specific prompt optimization
- Usage and extension of materials science domain ontologies for simulations and experiments
- Creation of reference benchmarks for extraction tasks
- Reproduction of published computational results based on extracted workflow parameters
Your profile:
- Outstanding, science-driven candidate with strong programming capabilities and a Master of Science in Materials Science, Physics, Chemistry, or related fields
- Proven prior (scientific) expertise with Natural Language Processing, in particular Large Language Models, is a must
- Expertise and experience with workflow managers and associated software packages (e.g, pyiron, Aiida, ase, etc.) for atomistic materials simulations (e.g. VASP, LAMMPS) is a must
- Experience using UNIX-like operating systems
- Demonstrated experience in scientific software development (e.g. Python), reproducible workflows, testing, continuous integration and software version control with git
- Prior teaching experience in “Machine Learning for Materials/Materials Informatics/Artificial Intelligence in Materials Science and Engineering” is a bonus
- Experience with domain-specific ontologies is beneficial
- Experience in deploying local open-weight models is beneficial
We offer:
- Team-oriented cooperation in a committed, international, and appreciative team
- Options for flexible working hours
- Option to present your research at national and international conferences
- Extensive training and further education opportunities within a graduate school
- A job in the lively Ruhr metropolitan region with its diverse cultural offerings
- A friendly and collegial environment
Further information:
The position is salaried and based on the collective agreement of the Länder (TV-L). If the personal and collective agreement requirements are met, the employee will receive pay grade E13 TV-L.
Further information can be found at (in German).
The place of work is Ruhr University Bochum.
The load of teaching will be calculated according to § 3 of Lehrverpflichtungsverordnung (state of North Rhine-Westphalia).
We expect to receive a suitable application. Your application should include a motivation letter explaining how your profile matches with the tasks described above and a CV including details about your education and achievements.
RUB sees itself as a university with an international presence. The campus languages are German and English. Competence in at least one of the two languages and the willingness to learn the other are a prerequisite. RUB provides corresponding free courses for employees.
German language courses are offered by the University Language Center (ZFA) in the field of German as a Foreign Language (DaF). https://www.daf.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/daf/mitarbeitende/index.html.en
The Staff Council has the right to participate in all selection interviews. At the request of a candidate (m/f/x), it will ensure its participation in the entire procedure. Please contact wpr@rub.de.
The Ruhr-Universität Bochum is one of Germany’s leading research universities, addressing the whole range of academic disciplines. A highly dynamic setting enables researchers and students to work across the traditional boundaries of academic subjects and faculties. To create knowledge networks within and beyond the university is Ruhr-Universität Bochum’s declared aim.
The Ruhr-Universität Bochum stands for diversity and equal opportunities. For this reason, we favour a working environment composed of heterogeneous teams, and seek to promote the careers of individuals who are underrepresented in our respective professional areas. The Ruhr-Universität Bochum expressly requests job applications from women. In areas in which they are underrepresented they will be given preference in the case of equivalent qualifications with male candidates. Applications from individuals with disabilities are most welcome.
Contact persons for further information:
Prof. Dr. Markus Stricker +49 1512 611 4982
Travel costs, accommodation costs and loss of earnings or other application costs for job interviews can unfortunately not be reimbursed.
We look forward to receiving your application via our online application portal by 2026-07-31. Please make sure to mention the reference number ANR 6041.
RUHR-UNIVERSITÄT BOCHUM
44801 Bochum
Universitätsstraße 150
SOCIAL MEDIA